WASHINGTON -- In a room full of religious leaders, politicians and other supporters of protecting Christians threatened in the Middle East, Sam Brownback, ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, urged more prayer and action to continue supporting persecuted Christians in the Middle East.

"There are millions of people, right now, praying in quiet corners, in little houses or huts, that are persecuted throughout the world," Brownback said in his keynote address at the sixth annual Solidarity Dinner hosted by In Defense of Christians Sept. 10. "They're praying to God saying, 'Help us, we need some help here.' ... And that is why you are here, it is those prayers."

Honored as the recipient of the Charles Malik Human Rights Award for his leadership in the Middle East, Brownback continued to encourage attendees to fight for the safety of Christians, and religious freedom, worldwide in this crucial time.

"There is more persecution of Christians now, arguably than any time in the history of the world, and the Christian faith is the most persecuted faith in the world, by far," Brownback said. "And there are people being killed today because of their faith and they are simple, good people who want to just honestly and peacefully practice their faith. And they're being killed for it."

In Defense of Christians is a Washington-based nonprofit that seeks to bring together Christians working to change the policies that threaten Christians in the Middle East, as well as educate Americans on the reality of the situations in the Middle East.

Each year the organization holds it Solidarity Dinner as the first part of a two-day National Leadership Conference that includes a Capitol Hill advocacy day.

Brownback said the future of Christianity in the Middle East has reached a defining moment.

"If we're not successful, there will not be a multireligious Middle East; it will no longer exist," Brownback said. "Most of the Christians have been driven out of the Middle East already, and we're trying to work to fight to keep them there, but you've got to push now, and now is the season we can get it done."

While Brownback acknowledged the critical situation for Christians in the Middle East, he also spoke to the hope that he has for the coming months.

"The season is important; the time is short," Brownback said. "I believe we have the opportunity in the next nine months to do more for religious freedom than has happened in the last 20 years."

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-California, was recognized by In Defense of Christians as one of 12 IDC Congressional Champions of 2019 for her work in Congress to advance the mission of protections for Christians in the Middle East.

Speier is a co-sponsor of a resolution -- H.R. 259 -- which would "signal Congress's support for a goal to make sure that government works with local leaders to create the conditions for religious minorities to return," she said at the Solidarity Dinner.

"We need to recognize that our work here is never done," Speier said. "The challenge in the Middle East and around the world is urgent, and you need to continue to remind us in Congress how urgent it is."

Mona Rizk Rowan, an Arabic professor at Stonehill College in North Easton, Massachusetts, a survivor of the Damour massacre in Lebanon in 1976, shared her testimony at the dinner, revealing firsthand the dangers of living in the Middle East for many Christian families.

When Rowan was a young girl, her Maronite Christian town of Damour was invaded by militants with the Palestine Liberation Organization. Hiding for their lives, Rowan and nearly 30 of her family members were shot. Her sister and brother, as well as other family members, were killed instantly. Rowan was shot twice, once in her arm, which was shielding her eyes, and once on her jaw, which immediately fell to the ground, she said.

"When they came ... to take my brother and my mother, and I was ... left for dead," Rowan said. "By the time they found me, about 24 hours had passed."

She was found by members of the Lebanese army and reunited with her father, who had escaped. To this day, Rowan seeks a lasting solution to repair her jaw as the cadaver bone currently implanted is thinning and she will soon need another procedure.

"Hopefully you are ... learning something from this," Rowan said. "By the grace of God, somehow I was able to live on. ... I had no choice ... I'm here for a cause. God kept me to spread a message, to be a voice for the dead who never had the chance to talk about what happened to them."

(Von Dohlen is a reporter at the Catholic Standard, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Washington)

JERUSALEM (CNA) -- Peace, mutual equality, and respect must be the foundation of progress in Israeli-Palestinian relations, despite continued setbacks, the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land said this week.

Continuing difficulties in Palestine and Israel have caused many people to question “whether international diplomacy and the peace process were ever actually based on justice and good will,” the ordinaries said in a May 20 message.

“Many in Palestine and in Israel feel that since the launch of the peace process, their lives have become more and more unbearable,” the ordinaries said. “Many have left, many more consider leaving and some are resorting to violence. Some die quietly and others are losing faith and hope.”

The ordinaries represent a diverse group of Middle East Christians in communion with Rome. Their message was signed by current and past patriarchs, archbishops and bishops, exarchs, men and women religious, and other leaders, from the Maronite Catholic Church, the Melkite Catholic Church, the Syrian Catholic Church, the Armenian Catholic Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.

While Israel’s population is predominantly Jewish, about 20 percent of the country’s 8.5 million people are Arab. About two percent are Christians, though their numbers have sharply declined after decades of emigration.

The Palestinian population is largely split geographically and politically between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Palestinian militants, largely based in Gaza, have engaged in military attacks on Israelis, and the Israeli military has also conducted military action.

Security borders have impaired Palestinians’ ability to work and travel, including travel to Muslim and Christian holy places, while Jewish settlements in the West Bank are a continuing source of tension.

For the ordinaries of the Holy Land, it is time for Churches and spiritual leaders “to point to another way, to insist that all, Israelis and Palestinians, are brothers and sisters in humanity.”

“The Churches insist that we can love one another and live together in mutual respect and equality, equal in rights and duties, in this same land,” they said. “This is not simply a dream but the powerful basis of a vision that inspired our ancestors, the prophets.”

More moderate Palestinian groups, based in the West Bank, have hoped to secure East Jerusalem as the recognized capital of a Palestinian state under a negotiated two-state solution. Gaza has been ruled by the Islamist political party Hamas since 2007. Israel and Egypt have conducted an economic blockade of the Gaza Strip, restricting the flow of persons and goods in an effort to limit rocket attacks on Israel launched from the territory. The blockade has driven up unemployment and harmed supplies of electric power and drinking water.

Under the Trump administration, the United States has moved its embassy to Jerusalem and ended vital humanitarian aid to the West Bank and to Gaza, including aid to hospitals in East Jerusalem. It has recognized the Golan Heights, long contested with Syria, as Israeli territory.

Recent Israeli elections returned to power a right-wing coalition headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which tends to take a hardline attitude on Palestinian issues.

The Catholic ordinaries lamented the failure to make progress.

“The recent developments in the Palestine-Israel context, the ongoing loss of lives, the continuing evaporation of hope for a durable solution, and the failure of the international community to insist on the application of international law to save the peoples of this land from more struggle and despair, have reached a point where we witness more extremism and discrimination,” they said. “Even those who once presented themselves as guardians of democracy and promoters of peace, have become power-brokers and partisan participants in the conflict.”

In recent decades, the Catholic leaders said, “we were promised peace and reconciliation but received more hatred and oppression, corruption and demagoguery.”

While a two-state solution has long been presented as the solution to the conflict and the fulfillment of commitments to the Palestinian people, the Catholic leaders voiced doubts.

“The proposal for a two-state solution has gone nowhere and is repeated to no avail,” they said. “In fact, all talk of political solution seems empty rhetoric in the present situation.”

“Therefore, we promote a vision according to which everyone in this Holy Land has full equality, the equality befitting all men and women created equal in God’s own image and likeness. We believe that equality, whatever political solutions might be adopted, is a fundamental condition for a just and lasting peace.”

The only possible peace must be based on “dignity, mutual respect and equality as human beings,” they insisted. Any resolution “must be based on the common good of all who live in this land without distinction.”

“We call on Christians in Palestine-Israel to join their voices with Jews, Muslims, Druze and all others, who share this vision of a society based on equality and the common good and invite all to build bridges of mutual respect and love.”

“We have lived together in this land in the past, why should we not live together in the future too?” they asked.

The Holy See has long supported a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and on a diplomatic level recognizes and refers to both “the State of Israel” and “the State of Palestine.”

According to the 1993 Israel-Palestinian peace accords, the final status of Jerusalem is to be discussed in the late stages of peace talks. Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem has never been recognized by the international community.

The Christian crisis in the Middle East will continue to absorb much of the time and money raised by the Catholic Near East Welfare Association in Canada, CNEWA-Canada executive director Carl Hetu told The Catholic Register.

The enduring crisis Christians face from the Euphrates to the Nile means that in 2019 CNEWA will simply continue the same fund-raising campaign under the same banner, said Hetu.

“People really do care, I think, more and more about the fate of Christians in the Middle East,” he said. “Because it concerns them as Christians, as Catholics. They are very much, I think, touched by this as Catholics. An attack on a Catholic (in the Middle East) is an attack on us here. It’s all that connectivity.”

CNEWA fund-raising has remained about constant, topping $4 million the last five years running, Hetu said.

With an economic crisis in Lebanon hitting Iraqi and Syrian refugees there hard, plus the refugee situation in Jordan, more than 40 per cent youth unemployment in Palestine, and continuing pressure on Coptic Christians in Egypt, the biggest challenge CNEWA faces is deciding where the greatest needs are.

For now, CNEWA is looking closely at how it can assist Christian refugees of the ISIS caliphate, some of whom are beginning to filter back into their own villages and neighbourhoods after the military defeat of the terrorist empire.

“What are the Christians going to go back to when the infrastructure is gone, their church gone, you know?” Hetu asked. “They may as well stay in Lebanon, but they don’t want to stay in Lebanon. Because the Lebanese are going through chaos right now, losing their jobs.”

With food bank lineups lengthening around Beirut, Lebanon’s 1.5 million Syrian refugees — many of them Christian — are feeling less and less welcome in the nation of six million.

“So, how are we going to help them go back to their home? Right now we are in the planning stage,” Hetu said.

By 2020 CNEWA and its Church partners in the region expect to have plans in place both for Syrians stuck in Lebanon and Iraqis exiled to Kurdistan in the north of Iraq. The plan has to support equally those who decide to return and rebuild and those who believe they have nothing to return to, Hetu said.

While the ISIS aftermath has a high profile, there remain other, enduring challenges in the region, according to Hetu.

“The situation is getting worse for Palestinians and for the Christians,” he said. “We’re very worried about that.”

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Separate terrorist attacks in the past five months have killed 80 people as they worshipped in New Zealand mosques, an American synagogue and a Philippines cathedral. These are just three among hundreds of attacks on worshippers over the past decade.

Six people were killed 14 months ago in a Quebec City mosque attack. Bombs ignited at Coptic Catholic churches in Egypt and Catholic churches in Nigeria have killed dozens of worshippers, including priests at the altar. Countless churches have been levelled in Syria and Iraq. Six worshippers were murdered in a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. Dozens have been killed at various Christian churches in the United States.

The March 15 massacre of 50 praying Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, illustrates again that hate is a trespasser that shows no regard for borders or faith affiliation. These deaths came seven weeks after 20 people were killed when two bombs were exploded in the Catholic cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the Philippines city of Jolo.

For gunmen seeking Internet fame, fighting personal demons or promoting some twisted ideology, the prayerful, peaceful congregants who fill houses of worship are easy targets. By their nature, houses of God must be welcoming places open for all who arrive at their doors. The thought of metal detectors or bag searches is odious. But although it may be impossible to totally thwart the mass murderers, in addition to stricter gun laws, steps can be taken to make prayer spaces safer.

Following six murders in the Quebec mosque attack, Ottawa doubled a $5 million fund to help places of worship, community centres and religious schools pay for such security measures as cameras, gates, alarms and lighting. But the fund is just $10 million over five years, a drop in the bucket to defend religious worship, a constitutionally protected right.

With rates of hate crimes rising in Canada, and with worshippers worldwide becoming targets, government attention to places of public worship needs to increase. The existing modest security program should be expanded to provide more infrastructure spending as well as support for security training.

In addition to installing alarms and lights, a security plan would include government-sponsored instruction for imams, rabbis, priests and other religious leaders on how to minimize death and injury in an attack. This type of training already occurs in some American cities. Church leaders are hearing that, by being prepared, lives can be saved in the crucial minutes before police arrive. They learn the importance of planning escape routes, hiding places, first aid and, as a last resort, self defence.

Places of worship are sanctuaries of prayer and peace. In today’s world, however, it has become a critical challenge to protect praying communities. Everyone must be vigilant and civic and church leaders must work together to try to keep worshippers safe.

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Unlike many other news websites, The Catholic Register has never charged readers for access to the news and information on our site. We want to keep our award-winning journalism as widely available as possible. But we need your help.

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VATICAN – Pope Francis said his recent visit to the United Arab Emirates, while brief, was a new page in relations between Christians and Muslims at a time when conflict and violence threaten the goal of lasting peace.

Recalling his Feb. 3-5 visit to Abu Dhabi, the Pope said during his weekly general audience Feb. 6 that the joint document signed by him and Egyptian Sheik Ahmad el-Tayeb, the grand imam of al-Azhar and chair of the Muslim Council of Elders, was a step forward in promoting dialogue and brotherhood.

"In an age like ours, in which there is a strong temptation to see a clash between Christian and Islamic civilizations taking place, and also to consider religions as sources of conflict, we wanted to give another clear and decisive sign that, on the contrary, it is possible to meet, respect and dialogue with each other, and that, despite the diversity of cultures and traditions, the Christian and Islamic worlds appreciate and protect common values: life, the family, religious belief, honor for the elderly, the education of young people and much more," the Pope said.

Arriving at the Paul VI audience hall, the Pope was in good spirits despite recently returning from the quick two-day visit. A group of pilgrims from Paraguay was the first to greet him, offering him "chipa," a cheese-flavored breakfast snack from their country.

The Pope snacked on the treat while greeting them. He later washed it down with some mate tea offered to him by an Argentine pilgrim attending the audience.

In his talk, the Pope reflected on the historic nature of his visit, which was the first time a Pope visited the Arabian Peninsula. He also noted that 800 years after St. Francis of Assisi's visit to Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil, providence wanted "a Pope named Francis" to fulfill this visit.

"I often thought of St. Francis during this visit," the Pope said. "He helped me to keep in my heart the Gospel, the love of Jesus Christ, while I lived the various moments of the visit."

Among the prayers he kept in his heart, he added, were the "victims of injustices, wars, and misery" as well as "the prayer that the dialogue between Christianity and Islam be a decisive factor for peace in the world today."

After expressing his gratitude to Abu Dhabi's crown prince, Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the country's authorities for their welcome, the Pope thanked the Catholic community "who animate the Christian presence in that land."

Departing from his prepared remarks, the Pope recalled meeting the first priest to arrive in Abu Dhabi and who "founded so many communities there."

At 90 years old, he said, the priest "is in a wheelchair, blind, but his smile never falls from his lips, a smile of having served the Lord, of having done good."

This visit, Pope Francis said, "belongs to God's 'surprises.' Let us praise him and his providence, and let us pray that the seeds sown may bear fruit according to his holy will."

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT – The clerical sex abuse of women religious is a problem in the Church and more must be done about it, said Pope Francis.

“There have been priests and even bishops who have done that,” the Pope said. “And I would guess that it still happens today, because it is not something that ends just because people know about it.

“We have been working on this for a while. We have suspended some priests, sent them away for this, and — I’m not sure if the whole process had been completed — but we also have dissolved a few women’s religious congregations,” newer ones, where corruption and sexual abuse were found.

“Must more be done? Yes,” he said.

The Pope addressed the issue while talking to reporters flying back to Rome with him Feb. 5 from Abu Dhabi. He spent about 35 minutes answering questions, although he insisted on responding first to matters related to the trip.

The women’s supplement to the Vatican newspaper printed a story in its February issue on the abuse of women religious.

The Pope praised the “courage” of then-Pope Benedict XVI for beginning to tackle the problem. As prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger tried to investigate a congregation where women were allegedly being abused, he said, but the investigation was blocked.

Pope Francis did not provide more details, but said that as soon as Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope Benedict, he called for the files he had compiled and began again.

The now-retired Pope, he said, dissolved a congregation “because the slavery of women, including sexual slavery, had become part of it.”

Alessandro Gisotti, interim director of the Vatican press office, said the dissolved congregation was the Sisters of Israel and St. John. He would not provide information about who initially blocked then-Cardinal Ratzinger’s investigation.

ABU DHABI, United Arab – Becoming the first Pope to ever celebrate Mass in the predominantly Muslim nation of United Arab Emirates, Pope Francis urged a crowd of more than 100,000 to be meek, peaceful and express their Christian identity by loving others.

The UAE Catholic community, which numbers close to 1 million, includes foreign workers from roughly 100 nations, but particularly India and the Philippines. The crowd filled the stadium on Feb. 5 at Abu Dhabi's Zayed Sports City and the open spaces around the complex.

Paul Matthew, his 13-year-old daughter Meldy and four-year-old daughter Michelle, were at the stadium early, the proud bearers of some of the 42,000 special tickets allowing access inside the stadium.

"We are very happy; it's a historic moment," said Matthew, who came from India five years ago.

The United Arab Emirates is officially Muslim, but allows members of other faiths to worship according to their beliefs. Among approximately 4,000 Muslims who attended the Mass were many government officials led by Sheik Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the government minister of tolerance.

In his homily, Pope Francis told the worshippers, "I like to quote St. Francis, when he gave his brothers instructions about approaching the Saracens and non-Christians. He wrote: 'Let them not get into arguments or disagreements, but be subject to every human creature out of love for God, and let them profess that they are Christians.'"

So "neither arguments nor disagreements" are called for, the Pope said. In the 13th century "as many people were setting out, heavily armed" to fight in the Crusades, "St. Francis pointed out that Christians set out armed only with their humble faith and concrete love."

"Meekness is important," the Pope said. "If we live in the world according to the ways of God, we will become channels of his presence; otherwise, we will not bear fruit."

The prayers of the faithful for the Mass were written in six languages: Korean, French, Urdu, Filipino, Konkani and Malayam.

The prayer in Filipino, acknowledging how many foreign workers come to the UAE without their families, asked God to accompany "all the migrants and workers who live in these lands; may their sacrifice and diligence blossom into goodness and sustenance for their families."

The French prayer asked God to convert "the hearts of sinners and of the violent; stop the wars, defeat hatred, help us weave bonds of justice and peace."

In his homily, Pope Francis acknowledged the difficulties many Catholic foreign workers experience so far from their homelands, often doing very humble work for very rich families.

The Gospel reading for the Mass was the Beatitudes from the Gospel of Matthew. Pope Francis told the people the Gospel message was for them and could be summarized as: "If you are with Jesus, if you love to listen to his word as the disciples of that time did, if you try to live out this word every day, then you are blessed. Not you will be blessed, but you are blessed."

Many people today, he said, think that being blessed means being comfortable and having wealth. But Jesus showed another way. For him, "blessed are the poor, the meek, those who remain just even at the cost of appearing in a bad light, those who are persecuted."

Jesus was "poor in respect to things, but wealthy in love; he healed so many lives, but did not spare his own," the pope said. "He came to serve and not to be served; he taught us that greatness is not found in having but rather in giving."

Through his meekness, humility and self-giving, the Pope said, "Jesus brought God's love into the world. Only in this way did he defeat death, sin, fear and even worldliness: only by the power of divine love."

The beatitudes, he said, are "a roadmap for our life: they do not require superhuman actions, but rather the imitation of Jesus in our everyday life."

"The Beatitudes are not for supermen, but for those who face up to the challenges and trials of each day," he said.

BEIRUT – At a gathering of Middle East leaders coinciding with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the Syriac Orthodox patriarch emphasized the need to unify efforts against extremism and terrorism.

"A hundred years after the genocide during the Ottoman Empire and major displacements," Christians in the region are still facing similar circumstances, said Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II of Antioch.

"Many of our churches have been destroyed and hundreds of thousands of our Christian brothers have been forced to migrate from the land of their fathers," Patriarch Aphrem said. "To whose benefit is it if the region is emptied of Christians?"

Members of the executive committee attending the meeting included Iraqi Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, patriarch of Chaldean Catholics; the Rev. Habib Badr, senior pastor of the National Evangelical Church of Beirut; and Souraya Bechealany, acting secretary-general of Middle East Council of Churches; as well as bishops and representatives from Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches in the Middle East.

Patriarch Aphrem called for regular meetings, at both the spiritual and political levels, to unify efforts against extremism and terrorism, as well as "to promote the principles of coexistence, human values, religious freedom and the spiritual and social values that exist."

"We know that our future is the future of living together with our Muslim brothers," the patriarch said, adding that "if we want to have a secure future," all must work together.

The patriarch lamented "the great silence of the great world powers" regarding the fate of two bishops kidnapped in Syria nearly six years ago, Orthodox Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo and Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan Gregorios Yohanna of Aleppo.

In its final statement, the executive committee called on "the international community and the Arab world to work for the release of the kidnapped bishops" as well as priests and lay abductees.

It called for "the establishment of peace in Syria and the dignified and safe return of displaced persons to their homeland and for the restoration of Iraq's recovery and the return of uprooted children to their land."

It rejected the decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of "the occupying power" and called for the "realization of the state of Palestine stipulated in the relevant international resolutions."

It also condemned "all forms of extremism and terrorism," expressing their hope for the "cooperation between churches and Islamic authorities to build a religious discourse" based on "the values of love, peace, social justice and dialogue."

JERUSALEM – Visiting with Christian communities in northern Israel and the northern Palestinian Territories has helped bishops participating in the annual Holy Land Coordination see "the great need" to promote an understanding between Israelis and Palestinians, said Bishop Noel Treanor of Down and Connor, Ireland.

"There is ... a need to devise ways for both people to understand that, ultimately and finally, for the common good of all, a permanent and sustainable solution is needed," said Bishop Treanor. "The kind of issues at stake here are not easily resolved, but some kind of solution has to be found. It is difficult to know when that will be achieved."

"It does not make sense that people living in such close proximity should be a source of conflict," he added.

He said every generation has the responsibility to take the necessary steps to promote mutual respect and understanding. Based on the Irish experience, he highlighted the important role the international community plays in finding solutions to such conflicts.

"The kind of problems faced here ... are part of the human condition," Bishop Treanor said. "An emphasis must be on the role of the international community. The world has become more interdependent ... and the international community must be involved so that people may live in peace and harmony."

The annual Holy Land Coordination includes bishops from North America, Europe and South Africa. Based this year in the northern Israeli city of Haifa Jan. 12-17, it has focused on the challenges and opportunities for Christians in Israel. The bishops visited Christian hospitals, schools and villages in Israel. They also met with Christian religious leaders, Christian mayors from Israeli towns, members of the Israeli Knesset, academics and internal refugees from the Melkite Catholic village of Ikrit.

The diverse meetings have helped highlight the "incomprehensible complexity" of the situation, said Bishop Treanor.

"We have also seen people working for peace and justice and the promotion of mutual understanding. Those are the ingredients for a sustainable solution and hope," he said.

On Jan. 13, the bishops celebrated Mass at the Church of the Visitation in the northern Palestinian village of Zababdeh and visited the Jenin refugee camp and a school run by theU.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine.

The school has been adversely affected by the U.S. government's withholding of funds to UNRWA, noted Archbishop Timothy Broglio, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace.

"The cutoff of USA aid is a very aggravating factor, which makes life more difficult," he said, noting that class sizes have increased to about 45 students per classroom and job training and job promotion programs had to be closed. "Those are innocent people caught in a battle."

Job promotion is critically important in helping young Christians remain in the Holy Land, he said.

He also noted the importance of meeting with the Christian community in Israel to learn about their perspective.

"They are Israeli citizens and do form a bridge. They can be loyal members of Israel as well as loyal members of our faith tradition," he said.

Archbishop Broglio said that while Christians in Israel have opportunities, they also face challenges and discrimination such as the newly passed Nation State Law, which recognizes Israel as "the national home of the Jewish people." Opponents say the law reduces non-Jews to second-class citizens.

The bishops' visit also inspires hope in the local Christian community that people abroad care about them and that will advocate for them to their governments.

In his homily at the Church of the Visitation in the West Bank, South Africa Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town told parishioners that the bishops understood the challenges they face and the importance of their presence in the Holy Land.

"We know and understand the difficult circumstances in which you live, and we also understand the important vocation you have of keeping the flame of Christianity alight in the place of the Messiah's birth, ministry, death and resurrection," he said.

"The promotion of truth, love, justice and peace are integral to the mission of the church. In the presence of untruth, injustice, hatred and violence we cannot remain silent. We have an obligation to witness to the kingdom. We cannot be silent, nor can we be neutral," he said.

AMMAN, Jordan – Growing numbers of Christians in North America and Europe are joining Christians in Syria's northeast in expressing concern for the future of religious minorities and Kurds in that region should the U.S. give Turkey the "green light" to take over the fight against Islamic State.

"News of any Turkish military involvement in northern Syria impacts us strongly and negatively," Chaldean Catholic Father Samir Kanoon of Qamishli, Syria, told Catholic News Service.

"Certainly, Christians don't want to see Turkish troops entering Syria given the past brutal history of the 1915 massacres of Christians carried out by the Turks," Father Kanoon told CNS by phone.

"Because of the massacres, Christians were forced to escape from Turkey, and this is where they fled, to northeastern Syria and Aleppo. Turkey is viewed by many as the enemy of Christians," he said. Qamishli is a city in northeastern Syria on the border with Turkey, close to Iraq.

"And again, Turkey now wants to interfere in Christian affairs in northern Syria and for that, it has a political agenda," said the priest. He warned that any problems could result in more Christians fleeing northern Syria.

Meanwhile, Syriac Christian organizations in Syria, the U.S. and Europe have called for a no-fly zone over northern Syria to stop any possible Turkish attack, fearing further trouble for Christians who were endangered by Turkey's takeover of Afrin early last year.

"We urgently need protection from Turkey's threats to invade and "cleanse" our territory from Christianity, religious freedom, and democracy," read the statement published Jan. 3 by the Syriac National Council of Syria, the American Syriac Union, and the European Syriac Union. The groups include Catholic and Orthodox Christians.

U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw troops and hand over the fight to Turkey "leaves us powerless and open to be destroyed by either Turkey, or other regimes scrambling to see our demise in the vacuum this will create," the statement said, a reference to Iran, which has supported Syrian government fighters.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands-based Free Yezidi Foundation also urged Washington to "delay withdrawal of forces for as long as possible" and to be able to conduct air attacks in Syria and Iraq.

In a statement Jan. 4, it warned that without a no-fly zone over northern Syria and U.S. troop presence to prevent a potential Turkish assault on Kurdish strongholds, "waves of refugees" from northeastern Syria will flood into Iraq.

The United Nations has described the Islamic State campaign against the Yazidis since 2014 as "genocide," with 3,000 killed and nearly 7,000 Yazidi women and girls abducted and sexually abused.

In late 2018 and early 2019, Turkey amassed more military hardware along its border with Syria, including tanks, howitzers and armored personnel carriers. While Turkish-backed forces inside Syria, whom analysts say include al-Qaida and Islamic State fighters, have moved closer to the strategic town of Manbij. The Kurds, Christians and other religious minorities until now felt protected by the presence of U.S. ground troops.

Trump announced Dec. 19 the U.S. would pull out 2,000 American troops from Syria, saying the extremists were "defeated" and that Turkey will finish the problem. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and senior aide Brett McGurk resigned in protest.

After much criticism of the move, U.S. National Security Adviser John R. Bolton said the U.S. troop drawdown will be conditioned on the defeat of the Islamic State and the safety of Kurdish allies.

Both Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have warned Turkey that the planned U.S. pullout must not be seen as an opportunity to attack Syrian Kurdish forces. Syrian Kurdish and Christian fighters, allied with U.S. troops, are largely responsible for eradicating much of the Islamic State presence in Syria.

Many analysts believe Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's real aim in wanting to take over the fight against Islamic State is rid Kurdish fighters in Syria, whom he calls terrorists.

Pope Francis has stressed that Christians must have a future in the Middle East, and on Jan. 6 he again urged authorities to ensure the security of Christians to live in their own countries as citizens in every sense of the word.

Meanwhile, Christian activists in Washington, D.C., called on Trump not to abandon Syrian religious and ethnic minorities.

"We hope to see Syria emerge from its civil war with religious freedom and equal rights for all faiths, ethnic groups and women," as currently evidenced in the northeast, said the International Religious Freedom Roundtable in a letter to the president. The umbrella grouping includes Law and Liberty Trust, Jubilee Campaign, the Institute on Religion and Democracy and the Netherlands-based Sallux.

"It is the best antidote to the totalitarian ideology of the Islamic State which threatens religious minorities and U.S. national security interests around the world," the Jan.7 statement urged.

Bassam Ishak who heads the Syriac National Council of Syria, warned that Turkey supports Syrian jihadists "who want to establish Islamic sharia law in land they occupy in Syria."

However, northeastern Syria under joint Kurdish and Christian control respects religious freedom for all its inhabitants for the first time in its recent history.

"It's not just freedom to worship, but also the freedom to choose your religion. This means Christians can live in a religiously diverse culture and have a secure future," said Ishak, a graduate of The Catholic University of America, Washington, who serves on the Syrian Democratic Council overseeing the self-administration region.

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Coverage of international religious freedom issues by Catholic News Service is supported in part by Aid to the Church in Need.